Cellular telephone systems may use caller identification (caller ID) to screen phone calls. The cell phone may store contact information containing names and phone numbers of persons or entities. The cell phone may compare a phone number of an incoming phone call with phone numbers in the contact information. The cell phone may display a name in the contact information that matches the phone number of the incoming phone call.
When no contact information matches the phone number of the incoming phone call, the cell phone only displays the telephone number. The user then must choose to answer the phone call or decline to answer the phone call based only on the phone number displayed on the cell phone.
Users must constantly update contact information with new phone numbers, home addresses, telephone addresses, etc. Even with constant updates to the contact information, unknown callers are still only identified by the phone number of the incoming phone call. Phone numbers alone provide little or no information about the identity of the caller. Thus, cell phones may not provide sufficient preview information for screening phone calls.